


crazy ass cosmonauts

by Planteria



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Among Us (Video Game) Setting, Angst, Blood, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Character Death, Gen, Ghosts, Gore, Human Impostor(s) (Among Us), Infection, Rated For Violence, angst with a semi-happy ending?, children facing their own mortality, greater than canon-typical violence for atla, mentions of contagious disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:14:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27905782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Planteria/pseuds/Planteria
Summary: Katara ran around the corner, out of Communications back into the hall, wide-eyed and clearly frightened. Aang just gawked at her for a moment. “He’s dead!”“What?”“He’sdead,Aang."The man with the cabbages was, indeed, dead on the floor. There was an impostor among them.[OR among us au where space travel is a terrible way to try to avoid murder]
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 54
Kudos: 95





	crazy ass cosmonauts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zartophski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zartophski/gifts).



> look i wrote this because i wanted to not because anyone wanted this. this is rough so **PLEASE** do not read this unless you're okay with all the content warning I have tagged (i.e. body horror, blood, gore, explicit death, explicit violence, etc.), please keep yourself safe  
> (also there are links in this, please open them, they're not viruses, mostly fanart)

Honestly, Aang had been really, really,  _ really _ excited to be living on a spaceship with his friends. It was hard to get them all in one place for an extended period of time and this was supposed to be exciting. Sure, they had daily tasks that they all had to get done in order to keep the ship running in order to get to  [ HQ, ](https://among-us.fandom.com/wiki/MIRA_HQ) but they got to spend  _ so _ much more time together. They would be there within the next twenty-eight hours and they’d start a different journey together. One that was going to be  _ so _ much  _ safer _ for all of them. 

Katara ran around the corner, out of Communications back into the hall, wide-eyed and clearly frightened. Aang just gawked at her for a moment. 

“He’s dead!” 

“What?” 

“He’s dead, Aang,” she repeated, voice shaking. He didn’t ask who, he simply followed her into the room. Blood had soaked into the carpet. There were a few cabbages sprawled on the floor, the little cart the man had always carried knocked over. A few of the leaves were absorbing some of the blood that was pooling around the cabbage heads, turning them as brown as the man’s space suit had been. Somewhere behind him, Katara was mumbling something he couldn’t quite make out, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. It was hard to look away from the decapitated, mutilated corpse on the floor. Maybe later he could excuse it as shock or morbid curiosity, but his eyes felt glued to it, the pool of blood growing ever larger. 

“Aang,” Katara semi-shouted, concerned and placing a hand on his shoulder. Finally the sight let go of its hold on him and he looked back. “I—I can’t find my—I can’t find my megaphone, I—” Katara choked out in between panicked breaths. 

Aang shushed her gently, pulling his own megaphone off his belt. “Sweetie, it’s okay. I’ll call it and we’ll find yours after. It’ll be okay.” She just nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and walking back into the hall. He couldn’t blame her for not wanting to see the body anymore. It was gruesome, grotesque. No one  _ wanted _ to look at corpses. But, strangely, Aang wasn’t phased.  _ Should _ he be freaking out about this more? 

He pulled his megaphone off his utility belt, pressing down the button. “Everyone come to Comms, there’s… a problem.” 

Katara looked over at him, suspicion in her eyes. “Don’t try to sugarcoat it,” she said, rubbing her hands over her arms. “They’re going to find out eventually. And they should know there’s… there’s a  _ killer _ among us right now. They need to be careful.”

“I don’t want them to panic,” Aang replied simply as Sokka and Zuko rounded the corner in Shields. 

“What’s going on?” Zuko asked first, hand protectively resting over  [ his sister ](https://6y9brows.tumblr.com/post/630784143914156032/not-sus-at-all) strapped to his chest as he jogged over. 

“Yeah, what’s up?” Sokka asked, Momo perched on top of his helmet. “We were fixing the wiring in Nav and…” He trailed off as Katara caught his eye and just shook his head. 

“Just look,” she muttered, barely audible, pointing at the doorway. Slowly, Aang wrapped an arm around her waist and Katara leaned into his side. Zuko and Sokka both exchanged a glance, confusion and concern washing over their features. After some nonverbal exchange, they walked in together. 

Their time in Communications was…  _ brief _ at best. 

Zuko was quickly stumbling back out into the hall, wide eyes locked on the body, hand covering the glass over Azula’s face. He tripped, landing on the metal floor with a CLANG, and looked back up at Katara and Aang. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but Sokka found his voice first. 

“‘A problem?’” Sokka shouted, suddenly appearing in the hall and nearly glaring at Aang. Momo was flying in panicked circles around them. “You called that  _ ‘a problem?’ _ ”

“Sokka, he didn’t want to panic anyone,” Katara snapped. Sokka turned his gaze to her. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Am  _ I _ being rude? I just came here thinking there was a  _ fixable _ problem only for there to be a fucking  _ dead body, _ Katara!” She opened her mouth to say something else and quickly shut it. With that, Sokka sighed, looking down at Zuko who was still on the floor and much paler than before. Sokka offered him a hand, muttering something that sounded like, “Are you okay, man?” Zuko shook his head.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Zuko mumbled, not even waiting to finish the statement before pushing past Aang and Katara and heading towards Storage. Momo finally landed on the floor, gripping Aang’s leg. Sokka brought his hands up to his helmet, seemingly wanting to scrub them over his face. He stayed like that for a brief moment before groaning and looking back up at them. 

“Look,” Sokka began. “I’m sorry I yelled at you both. That was a lot to process and I would have appreciated a forewarning.” 

“Sokka, it’s okay,” Katara said, peeling herself out of Aang’s grasp and moving over to her brother. Aang just stood silently, hoping they’d think Momo clinging to him was a valid excuse for not moving. 

“No, it’s not,” Sokka said, holding her shoulders. Somewhere in the distance, Zuko was retching into the garbage chute. “We have to tell the others what’s really going on. No one else is here! They think it’s a  _ fixable _ problem, not a we-all-might-die problem!” 

“Sokka, I—” Katara began, cutting herself off. She just stared at him for a moment before sighing. “Okay… okay. I see your point. Let them all know.” 

Sokka just nodded at her, pulling his megaphone off his belt and pressing down the button. “Everyone to Comms  _ now! _ There’s a dead body!” And just like that, there was the sound of rushed footsteps on the metal floor. 

“There’s a  _ what _ now?” Suki yelled from Storage, turning the corner into the hall a few seconds later. Momo chittered at her briefly, but she didn’t even glance down at him. “Sokka, you’re kidding,  _ right? _ You’re just fucking with us? Aang only reported a problem! A dead body is a little more than a problem!” 

Sokka shot a glance over at Aang and Katara. “Told you,” he muttered. Not skipping a beat, Sokka took a deep breath and nodded his head towards the room. “I wish I was; you can go look for yourself.” With that, her face fell further. She looked over making eye contact with Aang and Katara, mouth hanging open slightly. 

“This is a joke, right?” she asked again, quieter. Aang had known her long enough to know she was frightened, shaken to her core, but trying desperately to not show it. 

Katara shook her head. “Aang and I found it.” 

“Holy shit,” Suki said through a shaky breath. There were more approaching footsteps, moving much slower than Suki’s had been, but still rushed. Zuko had returned to the hallway at some point, cheeks red, arms folded over his chest and Azula on the ground next to him. 

“What’s going on?” Toph asked, coming into view, Iroh, Mai, and Ty Lee close behind her. The four paused near the entrance of the hall, three concerned gazes on Zuko. “Oh,” Toph mumbled under her breath. “There really is a body.” 

Iroh gave Zuko a look, who just nodded in return. Quickly, something flashed over Iroh’s face and he clapped his hands together. “How about we all regroup in the cafeteria. Nephew, would you mind starting some tea for everyone while I take care of… our crewmate.” Zuko simply nodded. 

* * *

The group of eight teenagers were morbidly silent when Iroh entered the cafeteria. They were sitting around one table, Zuko keeping to his word and boiling a pot of water with his hand. His nephew had never been good at making tea; Iroh knew this, but he had more important matters. He hoped that he had gotten all the blood off his suit, the white never could hide anything (it felt like he was  _ constantly _ cleaning the forsaken thing). Five of them had seen the carnage, but moving the body was a different matter. Loading it into the garbage chute was a different matter. Watching it disappear into the darkness—flailing limbs going stiff, freezing—to make sure none of them would accidentally see it floating in space was a different matter. 

“Thank you, Zuko,” Iroh muttered to his nephew, motioning for him to hand him the pot. Azula was asleep in his lap, curled into his chest. Iroh couldn’t stop the fond smile that pulled at his lips. Wordlessly, Zuko handed the pot over and let Iroh sit down next to him, arm draping across his shoulders. 

All Iroh had wanted was a better life for his niece and nephew and their friends. There had been a promise of that on  [ Polus. ](https://among-us.fandom.com/wiki/Polus_\(planet\)) And the journey there was  _ supposed _ to be dangerous. They were at risk for running out of rations or out of fuel. The ship was old, it jostled often resulting in wiring coming undone or their navigation system misaligning. This would result in a number of other issues they would have to resolve throughout the time they spent awake. Every once in a while they’d hit an asteroid belt and there was always a possibility of further damage.  _ Murder, _ however, was  _ never _ one of the possible risks. But Iroh had seen this before. He  _ knew _ what it was. He assumed many of the teenagers before him knew it too. 

“So,” Iroh began, removing his arm from his nephew and settling into his seat. “I’m sure you all have questions.” 

“I thought we were supposed to be safe here,” Zuko grumbled, staring at his sister and briefly glancing up at the teenaged boy in the blue space suit. 

“I know,” Iroh muttered with a small nod. The water in the pot was beginning to boil, small curls of steam beginning to emerge. “I wish I could tell you that we still are; that we just need to find who did this and ask why they would do something like this. But those of you who saw it, I’m sure you recognized it for what it was.” 

The two Water Tribe siblings looked over at each other; Zuko had mentioned once they had lost their mother to the infection. They probably knew exactly what was happening the moment they saw it. To Iroh’s right, the blind earthbender wrapped her arms around herself, swaying slightly. The three who hadn’t gone in to see shared a look amongst themselves while the airbender kept his eyes quietly trained on the table. 

“I’m sorry, we—” the girl in the bright green suit began. Suki, he believed her name was. Iroh hadn’t known her before starting this trip, but she was such a determined and charismatic young lady that he was glad he had gotten to meet her. “We didn’t go in to see it. You know for certain it was… it was one of  _ them? _ ” 

Iroh nodded. “I have lost many friends and loved ones to the impostors. There was a hole through the abdomen and he was decapitated… It  _ was _ one of them.” 

Ty Lee gasped like she had been struck, Mai placing a comforting hand on her back and turning to face her slightly. Everyone else processed their grief silently, various emotions flashing over their faces. The airbender just kept his eyes trained on the table, no reaction. Iroh narrowed his eyes at him slightly. 

“What do we do now?” Sokka asked, voice straining in an attempt to keep it steady. Iroh had always appreciated the boy’s capacity for logic and reasoning. He was a good strategist, thinking through every possible detail of every plan he came up with. Iroh had hoped he’d rub off on his nephew more during this trip. 

Iroh hummed. “I’m sure you remember the protocol: we have to find whoever has been infected and eject them. We cannot endanger the others who have already completed the journey by arriving at HQ without finding them. I know you all wanted to make it out of this alive, but that is no longer an option. We must find the impostor.” 

And the moment he finished, the alarms started blaring. Their reactor was broken, melting down and moments away from killing them all. Nothing was said. All eight teenagers sprung to their feet and headed off down the hallway together, a few dragging another along. He had confidence in them. They always finished their tasks and got things done—so much more responsible than he had been at their age. They could have made this trip without him. 

Rising from his seat, Iroh started his way towards the electrical room. Usually after their oxygen supply or their reactor malfunctioned, the distributor would need recalibrating; something about how the ship diverted power for the alarms. Whoever had constructed this ship had done a  _ shoddy _ job to put it lightly. Not that Iroh could do much better himself, but he would have expected better from such a large evacuation company. 

As he walked through the doorway, the alarms turned off. In the wake of the past half hour, the silence was unsettling. Nothing would be able to shake the tension that the killing had put in the air. Iroh had seen death time and time again throughout his life, but this was different. He understood that. As his nephew had said, they were  _ supposed _ to be safe. Everyone had been tested  _ so _ many times before boarding. He wasn’t sure how one could have slipped through. Unless it had been on the ship  _ before _ they boarded. The airbender had found that little lemur left abandoned in the MedBay. They had all assumed it was fine—it only could have only come from Mira HQ or Polus otherwise the previous crew would have never been allowed off. Now, in retrospect,  _ was _ it fine? 

The aforementioned Lemur was sitting on the floor of Electrical and made a humming sound as Iroh entered. With a small laugh, Iroh shook his thoughts from his head as he opened the panel. Of all the menial tasks he had to complete in his time here, this had always been his least favorite and would require more of his attention. Maybe it was just a sign he was getting old, his reflexes not as fast as they once were. If it was, he embraced it fully, a small miracle he was able to get old at all. With a small chuckle, Iroh locked the first distributor in place. His mind focused itself intently on the task at hand. The sooner he got it done, the sooner he could check on his niece and nephew and make sure  _ all _ of them were still safe. 

* * *

“Sokka,” Suki groaned, a warning more than anything else. The lights had been out for a few minutes and the two had been elected to go and turn them back on while everyone sat in the cafeteria. They had tried to call another meeting to finish their discussion with Iroh, but before they could pair-up to go find him, the lights had gone out. It was safer for six to wait in the cafeteria than for all eight of them to go and risk someone being separated. Turning the lights back on wasn’t  _ as much _ of an emergency as the reactor was. 

“What?” Sokka asked defensively. “I’m just saying that if we’re going to find the impostor, we have to start coming up with theories for who it is!” 

“But  _ Aang? _ ” she shot back. “You know Aang wouldn’t hurt a fly. It-it’s  _ Aang! _ ” 

“I  _ know! _ But that’s not the point. What I’m  _ trying _ to get at is that it really could be any of us!” he continued, propping open the door to switch the lights back on. “For all I know, it could be  _ you, _ and for all you know, it could be  _ me! _ ” 

“I  _ know _ it’s not you because you don’t shut up long enough to sneak up on anyone,” she mumbled. His head snapped over towards her. “Also, you’re a  _ terrible _ liar,” she said smugly. 

“I take offense to that,” he said, turning his attention back to the task at hand. It was a joke, a smile pulling gently at his mouth. The lights came back on with a buzz and a pop

“You shou… oh, shit.” 

“What?” Sokka asked. Suki’s brain was preoccupied with the sight at her side. She felt Sokka’s hands come to rest on her shoulders and she heard him say, “Sooks, what’s wrong?” but it was distant. Dark blood was pooling on the metal floor, splattered up the wall and all over the distributor, the third one still spinning. Part of a spine stuck out where a helmet should be, a hole punctured through a white suit, spilling red everywhere. 

Suki understood now why Zuko had vomited. 

“Oh, fuck,” Sokka said finally. “Iroh.” For some reason that was what snapped Suki out of her trance. Shaking her head, she looked up at Sokka. 

“We have to call the others, but…” 

“I know. I—I don’t know how to keep Zuko from seeing this,” Sokka said, sounding more shocked than anything else. 

“I—he’ll want to say goodbye, though,” Suki argued, grief starting to tangle itself in her organs, aching. Sokka shook his head. 

“I know, but  _ you _ saw how he reacted to the last one. He didn’t even  _ know _ that guy!” Sokka stared at the corpse in the corner of the room for a moment. “His uncle was like a father to him. Can you  _ imagine _ how traumatizing seeing him like this would be?” 

Suki took a breath and closed her eyes, just letting her brain process everything for a moment. “Let’s just call the others and stop them out in the hall. We can  _ ask _ Zuko what  _ he _ wants to do. He can probably make this decision for himself,” Suki said with finality. Sokka nodded, chewing on his bottom lip. 

“Do you want to call it or do you want me to?” he asked. She shrugged. 

“You did a pretty good job of getting everyone’s attention last time.” 

“Okay,” he breathed out and turned towards the hallway. Suki looked back over at the body. Maybe she should have gone in to see the first one. Maybe this one wouldn’t be so gut wrenching if she had. It was hard to look at it and see the man that it used to belong to. The one that made them tea with every meal, who laughed a little too much at his own jokes. The man who tried his best to comfort all of them, even if they were practically strangers. The man who had loved his niece and nephew enough to abandon life as he knew it to make theirs better. Suki narrowed her eyes and moved closer. 

“Everyone meet in the hall outside of Electrical! There’s another body.”

There were bloody footprints leading away from the body and towards the vent in the corner. It only measured about a foot across each way. There was no way for anyone… for a _ normal  _ human to fit into it. Suki would be lying if she said she didn’t feel herself shaking with the realization. She was aware that Iroh had said that someone onboard was infected, but the reality was finally sinking in. A hand was on her shoulder and she jumped. 

“Sooks,” Sokka said gently, eyes following the trail. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and then smiled partially. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to look at this more than I have to.” 

* * *

It took only a moment for everyone else to meet them. They stood far enough away from the doorway that the scene wasn’t visible. But Zuko was already pale, Mai partially supporting him. Ty Lee’s eyes were turning red. The three had grown up together and losing Iroh was probably like losing part of their home, losing any lingering hope of a sense of normalcy. 

“Suki,” Ty Lee got out, her arms wide and her voice straining to suppress a cry. 

“I know,” she answered, hugging her. This wasn’t going to get easier. 

Aang, Katara, and Toph stood off to the side, collectively processing all the implications of what had happened. Sokka had made his way to Mai and Zuko, talking with them hushedly. Zuko shook his head at something; it was probably  _ that _ conversation, the one that Sokka and Suki had debated moments earlier. Why was all this happening  _ now? _ They were less than twenty-six hours away from Mira HQ. Nothing like this had happened in all the weeks they had been on the Skeld. They had all been so hopeful for a better life and that was being ripped away from them so quickly. 

“No, I want to go see him, Sokka,” Zuko said loudly, ripping everyone from their thoughts. Ty Lee’s head lifted from Suki’s shoulder to turn and look at him. 

“I just said you shouldn’t go in there  _ alone! _ ” Sokka argued back, his voice raising as well and his hands on Zuko’s shoulders. “You know what happened the last time you saw a body! And this is your  _ uncle! _ You shouldn’t be alone.” Zuko’s expression sank and he closed his eyes, biting his lip. 

“Fine,” he said finally. “You can come with me but I don’t want—” 

“Ow!” Sokka yelled, stumbling backwards. Azula’s leg was outstretched from her position in the harness on Zuko’s chest. Sokka raised his arms slightly, staring down at the child before him. “What the fuck, Azula? I thought we were cool!” 

“Sokka!” Katara scolded. She had been insistent from the beginning that no one swear around Azula or Momo, though that wasn’t always enforced. 

“Katara!” Sokka shot back, matching her tone. There was a silent conversation between the two of them, before Sokka looked away, facing the rest of the group. “Anyone who wants to say goodbye to Iroh you can go in right now. Once everyone’s done, Zuko and I are going to dispose of the body.” 

“I said I wanted to do that by myself, Sokka! You can’t—” 

“You don’t get a choice in me helping you, Zuko!” Sokka snapped. Zuko took a half step backwards, still staring at him.

* * *

“I’m saying that he’s being  _ really _ suspicious!” 

“I’m sorry that Aang’s now seen two dead bodies today and is acting a little weird, Sokka!” Katara shouted back. “You’re  _ also _ being suspicious. Shouldn’t we  _ also _ talk about how you were doing tasks close to where the first body was found and volunteered to go turn the lights back on?” 

“Yes!” Sokka said, hands coming up to rest on the sides of his helmet. Suki remembered how he always used to pull at his hair when he was stressed. “We should be talking about everyone because  _ I _ don’t want to die on this ship!” 

“You’re not even going to defend yourself against me saying it might be you?” Katara asked, sounding mildly horrified. 

“He could have killed me multiple times if he wanted too,” Zuko muttered, arms folded and eyes dead. As he said it, he didn’t even glance away from one spot on the table. “I don’t think it’s Sokka.” 

“And that’s my point too!” Katara shot back, more at Sokka than Zuko. “I’ve been with Aang this  _ whole _ time. If it was Aang, he would have already killed me!” 

“Okay! Okay!” Sokka said, putting his hands up in surrender. “You have a point. Maybe everyone should go and do a MedBay scan! You know the system freaks out if it—” 

“You know that the program won’t let more than five people scan in a day! So three of us are just supposed to be ostracized because we have to wait for the system to reset?” There was quiet for a moment. 

“I’ve already scanned today,” Suki offered. “Ty Lee and Mai were with me, so  _ I’m _ clear.” 

“I can confirm that,” Mai said, looking like she just wanted the discussion to be over. 

“And  _ I, _ ” Sokka added, “scanned yesterday. Suki and Toph saw me, so  _ I’m _ good.” 

“I did  _ not _ see you, Sokka,” Toph quickly countered. Everyone stared at her, momentarily terrified of the implication of Sokka lying. 

“I saw him scan,” Suki said quickly, almost in a panic, her brain slowly catching up to what Toph was  _ actually _ implying. “But there were footprints leading to the vent.” Collectively, her friends turned to stare at her. “The impostor is moving through the vents. So either they can shapeshift, or they can manipulate the vents to get through them.” 

“Are you saying it’s me?” Toph shouted, slapping the table. “Suki! You know someone is always with me because our stupid fucking tablets don’t have a braille function and they won’t just read things aloud! I’m never alone long enough to kill someone!” 

“I wasn’t saying it was you!” Suki backpedalled. “Metal also expands when it gets hot!” Zuko’s eyes finally left the table, turning on her. 

“Are you trying to say that  _ Zuko _ killed his uncle?” Mai asked, hands resting on the table and the anger in her voice barely masked. This was not going the way she had intended. 

“No, no, no! I’m not saying that at all!” Suki said quickly, eyes bouncing between the glares she was receiving from both Zuko and Mai. “It could… also be a water bender? Like with steam?” She cringed the moment the words left her mouth. 

Katara took a deep breath, holding it for a moment with her eyes closed, and sighed. “I think we can all agree that we have no idea who it is. Let’s just go finish our tasks for the morning and regroup for lunch. We  _ have _ to find the impostor before we reach HQ tomorrow and we’re not making any progress right now.” 

“We could just not tell them we have an impostor among us,” Toph grumbled, barely audible. Suki never would have heard it had she not been right next to her. At a slightly above normal volume, Toph said, “I call Zuko to be my task buddy!” 

* * *

About half an hour later as Suki was emptying the last of the gas can into the lower engine, the lights flickered off again. With a sigh, she determined that it was  _ her _ turn again to go and turn them on. More than likely, she was the closest person and she was  _ still _ the only one with a flashlight. Clicking on said flashlight, she meandered the short way down the hall into Electrical. The ship was always so creepy with the lights off. All the strange noises it made normally were amplified, sounding as if there were restless spirits still haunting the metal rooms. If she was being honest, there definitely were ghosts in this ship; whether they were new additions or had been here before they had even boarded was up for debate. 

Opening the panel to the light switches and tucking the flashlight in between her shoulder and helmet, Suki got to work. The lights normally only took a few seconds to get back on, but it felt so dangerous now. She couldn’t see anything behind the wall where Iroh had been killed. She couldn’t see anything behind her. But it was fine. So far it was just the adults who had been killed. Everyone left were all friends. None of her friends would  _ ever— _

There was the creak of a rusting vent slowly opening. Suki froze. 

“Hello?” she shouted into the darkness as if they would answer. “Who’s there?” There was the sound of metal hitting metal in response—the vent had closed. It took one loud foot fall to echo in the room for Suki to panic. Her heart pounding in her chest and ears, fingers desperately trying to get the last three switches up. Why did they get stuck if you tried to flip up more than one at a time? Obviously this wasn’t designed to be done in a life-or-death situation. 

Something sharp from behind her ripped through her stomach at an angle. Briefly, she saw the dark spire of  [ a tongue ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjqKP8hJdOI) piercing her before it shot through her backwards. Too stunned to process what was happening, the flashlight fell from her shoulder to her hand and she swung. The light made contact with a red—maybe orange—helmet, the glass over the lightbulb shattering. Suki froze. A bloody hand quickly swiped over the front of her helmet, blocking her vision and pushing her down. The sound of the back of her head hitting the metal floor echoed through her helmet, ringing in her ears. And suddenly she could feel the hole going through her. 

* * *

“There!” Katara said, the reactor glowing brighter than before. “It’s back in action.” With a smile, she turned to look back at Aang who was sitting on the floor. When their eyes met, he smiled up at her. 

“Looks like someone got the lights back on too!” Aang added in cheerfully. Momo was fast asleep on top of his orange helmet. Katara had been so happy that Aang had been able to have some semblance of normalcy during this trip. He’d been allowed to take Appa, but they had to store him frozen on the ship. Once they got somewhere with a more stable food source, they would thaw him out. But until then, Aang only had Momo. 

Katara pulled her tablet out. “Okay, so the last two things I have to get done are download data from Electrical and test a sample up in MedBay.” Aang got up off the ground. 

“Let’s go to Electrical first. I feel like it’s close—” Before he could finish, there was a muffled bang and a faint groan. The smile quickly fell from Aang’s face as he and Katara shared the briefest glance and took off running. 

As they rounded the corner towards Electrical, Katara’s eyes landed on the source of the groaning. Suki was holding the wall as if her life depended on it, stumbling and clutching her stomach. Blood was smeared over the helmet, her pale face barely visible behind it. 

“Suki!” Katara yelled, popping the cork off of the water pouch on her belt. Suki’s eyes darted between Katara and Aang, fear-stricken. Shaking, Suki removed her hand from her abdomen, revealing the gaping hole underneath it. 

“Help,” Suki gasped out, pained. Reaching her, Katara quickly pressed a glowing, water-covered hand to the wound. The best she could do right there was close it off from the outside. It would take a lot more to begin to fix the internal damage. 

“Aang! Help me get her to MedBay!” 

“On it!” Aang said back, wedging himself under Suki’s other arm. 

“It’ll be okay,” Katara muttered to her. “You’ll be okay. If you can just make it to MedBay, there are other things there that I can use to heal you.” Suki just nodded, blanching more and more by the second. She was trying her best to keep up with the two of them, but by the time they were passing Admin, Aang and Katara were essentially dragging Suki along. 

“Hey! What’s—Suki!” Ty Lee shouted somewhere behind them. 

“Call an emergency meeting!” Katara yelled at her over her shoulder. She was more focused on healing Suki than figuring out where Ty Lee was. 

Reaching MedBay, they tossed Suki into the nearest bed. Katara scrambled to find her supplies, Suki’s head rolling to one side, eyes closed. 

* * *

Ty Lee wished everyone would just  _ stop _ yelling. They  _ never _ used to yell at each other. She sat quietly at Suki’s bedside, loosely holding her limp hand. Katara was yelling something about how Sokka needed to stop blaming people for this. Sokka shouted back that he didn’t want any more of his friends to die before they figured this out. Zuko was trying his best to  [ calm them both down, ](https://youtu.be/JhkZMxgPxXU?t=210) but to no avail. Aang was the only thing keeping Katara from committing fratricide. Momo chittered at them, hiding under Suki’s bed. And Mai was rubbing slow circles into Ty Lee’s back. 

They were making no headway whatsoever in figuring out who was responsible. All the evidence they had for anyone was circumstantial at best. Sure, she didn’t want to risk losing anyone else either, but they weren’t being productive like this. 

In her sleep, Suki stirred a little, probably disturbed by all the chaos happening around her. Katara had tightly wound bandages over her stomach and space suit. Ty Lee guessed it wouldn’t matter that the bandages weren’t directly on her skin. It had been nearly a month since any of them had taken off even their helmets for more than a few minutes. It was just… safer to leave everything on, less risk of possibly being infected. 

“Guys?” Suki groaned, eyes fluttering open ever so slightly. Unconsciously, Ty Lee heard herself squeal, squeezing Suki’s hand and lunging forward to be closer to her. 

“You’re awake!” 

Suki met her eyes and smiled smally, looking more exhausted than close to death. “Gonna take more than that to get rid of me,” she mumbled, her smile turning into a grimace as she tried to move. At the same time, the others seemed to notice her. 

“Suki!” Sokka yelled, pushing past Zuko. “Hey, hey, hey, how are you feeling? You okay?” Another smile pulled at Suki’s lips, her eyes still barely open as she turned her head towards Sokka who was kneeling near her bed. 

“Yeah, I’m going to be fine,” she said, an almost cheeky tone in her voice. Her smile grew slightly. “It’s just a  [ flesh wound. ](https://youtu.be/UijhbHvxWrA?t=74) ” Sokka let out a strained laugh, eyes watering slightly. Before Ty Lee could get anything else in, Katara cleared her throat from the doorway. 

“Suki, I’m glad you’re awake,” she began, folding her arms over her chest. Ty Lee could already hear the “But” that would inevitably follow that statement. “Do you feel up to answering some questions?” 

Suki hummed, suddenly sitting herself up as if she wasn’t in pain, as if there wasn’t a whole going directly through her still. Both Ty Lee and Sokka made moves to grab her by the shoulders but she easily swatted their hands away. “Yeah,” she answered evenly. 

“You shouldn’t be sitting up!” Katara chided, having taken several steps forward in the last few moments. “I did the best I could but your wound could still rip open.” 

“And that’s what bandages are for.” The comment washed a new quiet over the group. One where glances were exchanged and eyebrows furrowed. Something was wrong. 

Maybe that wasn’t the right way to put it. Suki had just almost died. It could be something was just different now. Whatever Suki had experienced may have… changed her. Ty Lee’s heart panged a little. She had agreed to leave her life as she knew it under the promise that things would get better. That they would be safer. That her and Suki could be together the way they wanted to be. 

She would love her no matter what, but Ty Lee wouldn’t let herself be blind to the fact that Suki was different now… honestly, they were both different now. 

“Just don’t hurt yourself further, Suki,” Katara grumbled. “You wouldn’t be proving anything to any of us by making yourself bleed again.” Suki hummed a bit indignantly.  _ Different, _ Ty Lee reminded herself,  _ she’s just different now.  _

“Sooks,” Sokka whispered to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Ty Lee could see the pleading in his eyes even if he wasn’t looking at her. 

“I’ll take care of myself… promise,” Suki muttered back, genuine. Sokka nodded, glancing briefly at Ty Lee. He gave her a small smile and she returned it. They hadn’t really known each other before the trip, which was strange considering they both were friends with Suki and Zuko. She was glad she got to meet him. He seemed to genuinely care deeply about others and he had managed to stay friends with Suki even after they broke up. There was something nagging at her that the impostor really  _ couldn’t _ be him. 

“Okay,” Katara said, shifting her stance a little. “Let’s just get to the point, did you see who the impostor was? Did you see who tried to kill you?” 

Suki’s eyes dropped to her lap, the lime green suit stained with darkening blood. “No,” she admitted quietly. Her eyes turned back up staring at Zuko and Aang out in the hallway. “I didn’t see who it was.” 

* * *

Suki laughed. “What can I say? Katara’s healing water works wonders.” 

“I still can’t believe you convinced her you’re feeling well enough to be up and about walking,” Ty Lee commented, an arm wrapped loosely around Suki’s waist. 

“I’m persuasive,” Suki answered, smirking slightly. 

“That’s one way to put it,” Mai hummed. Ty Lee didn’t understand why she would willingly choose a black space suit. Sure, she didn’t have to clean it as often because it didn’t show stains, but it was just so…  _ drab. _ It was better than gray, but even still, it was  _ so _ morbid now, like she was always dressed for mourning. Suki flinched. 

“Hey, let’s sit for a bit,” she suggested. Ty Lee huffed. 

“This is why Katara didn’t want you up just yet!”

“I know, I know, but we haven’t gone  _ that _ far.” Without any further debate, the three girls settled at the table in the cafeteria closest to the windows and the garbage chute. Just how many stars existed in the universe had always amazed Ty Lee. It was breathtaking to see so many of them each day. 

Suki leaned over, resting her head on Ty Lee’s shoulder. As frustrated as she was with her for not trying to go easy on her injury, Ty Lee was  _ so _ grateful she was alive. Losing Iroh had been bad. She couldn’t imagine losing Suki on top of that. Resting the side of her helmet on top of Suki’s, Ty Lee tried to get her mind off of it. She didn’t want to think about losing her or Mai or Zuko. They were like family. Losing them would—

The alarms were blaring. Something was wrong with their  [ oxygen supply. ](https://www.instagram.com/p/CGYx2e3FvLT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) Quickly, the three of them exchanged a glance. 

“We’ll split up,” Mai decided. “Ty Lee, you get the one in O2, I’ll go to Admin. Suki… just stay here.” 

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Suki grumbled, clutching her ribs with a wince. Mai took off without another word and Ty Lee was nervous. She and Mai had always done things together. Originally, it had just been for the company; now, it was for the protection of having another person around. But there was no one else close by. They had to get it done. 

Swallowing her anxieties, Ty Lee jogged down the hallway towards O2. This never took long anyway. She just had to punch in the six digit code that Iroh always… that Zuko and Sokka had copied down for them today. Ty Lee understood that there was some sort of safety mechanism in changing the code every twenty-four hours, but she never got exactly why. It was a code to reset the machines! Not being able to memorize it made emergency situations like this so much more stressful!

It also would have prevented her from panicking further as she couldn’t read the writing. Iroh had such neat handwriting. His numbers were always so clear and precise. Whoever— _ Sokka, _ she guessed—wrote this one, did not have any of those qualities. Their sevens and their ones looked indistinguishable. Their eights and their zeroes were a little too similar for comfort. And Ty Lee only had a few minutes to get the code in properly. 

There were footsteps in the hallway.  _ Oh good! Someone can help me with this _ , she thought as relief washed over her. Peaking out into the hall, her eyes locked on to a lime green suit limping its way towards her. 

“Suki!” Ty Lee chided. “What are you doing up?” 

“I just remembered that Sokka wrote the code for this room and I thought you might want some help,” Suki smiled at her. Ty Lee loved her, but she was too stubborn at times. 

* * *

Suki was still sitting at the cafeteria table when Mai came running back through. The alarms were still blaring, meaning Ty Lee was having some trouble with getting the system reset. Her gut had told her that they shouldn’t have split up. They hadn’t been apart the whole time they were on the ship. But she was sure that Ty Lee should know how to reset oxygen, right? Suki only gave her a nod as she ran past, barely making it into the weapons room before the ship fell silent. Mai didn’t have enough time to feel relieved, to slow her pace to walk the rest of the way to reunite with Ty Lee. There was a crackle of a megaphone and a voice shouting. 

“Everyone to O2! Ty Lee’s [ fucking dead! ](https://youtu.be/XUjTmTnnszk?t=5) ” 

Mai’s brain didn’t register the words at first, but she froze. What did Toph say? Dead? That couldn’t be right? Ty Lee  _ couldn’t _ be—Mai had  _ just _ seen Ty Lee. They had only been separated for about a minute. There was  _ no _ way she could be dead. She couldn’t be—

“Mai!” Zuko called somewhere behind her. She was gripping the red railing as if it was the only thing keeping her alive. She was already sitting on the floor—maybe her knees had given out? She didn’t remember how she ended up here. She wasn’t surprised, though. Zuko had done nearly the same thing when it was announced that his uncle was dead. Hands grabbed her shoulders from behind. 

“Mai,” Zuko repeated, quieter this time, turning her by the shoulders to face him. Concern… he was concerned about her. Why was he concerned about  _ her _ when  _ Ty Lee _ was dead? She was being hugged. There were loud footsteps echoing somewhere to the side of them. All Mai could see were the blue tables in the cafeteria, the LED lights flickering, used napkins and other little pieces of garbage littered on the tile. People were talking somewhere. It was loud, like they were yelling. Mai wasn’t exactly sure why. The lemur was hopping from table to table, looking for scraps, completely unphased by the shouting. The lights were flickering. Someone needed to go to electrical and recalibrate the distributors again. Everything always got weird after the alarms went off. Why did the alarms go off? There was something— _ someone _ —red directly in front of her, squeezing her tighter and mumbling something near her. Right. Zuko. It was a jarring return to reality. Zuko was hugging her and she was on the floor and Ty Lee was dead. 

Shaking, Mai wrapped her arms around Zuko and cried. 

* * *

“I say we just vote someone off,” Mai bit out. It had been half an hour since her and Zuko had dumped Ty Lee’s headless, lifeless body out of the airlock. It had been half an hour of the siblings yelling at each other over the same concepts again. It had been half an hour of no progress being made. And Mai was done with this bullshit. 

“What?” Katara squeaked out, her arms dropping to her sides. 

“How about we all get a piece of paper and write down who we think the impostor is and the person with the most votes we shove out the airlock?” Mai clarified, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. Her attempts weren’t good enough and there was still an edge to her voice. Suki’s mouth fell open a bit. Zuko and Sokka exchanged a glance. 

“We—” Katara began and then cut herself off. She sighed. “I just don’t want to be rash about this. I don’t think we should try to… vote anyone off just yet.” 

“So you’re okay with someone else dying?” Mai shot back. Zuko tried to place a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged him off. She glared at him briefly before turning her gaze back on the five other remaining crew members. “You all keep arguing with each other and we aren’t getting anywhere and now three people have died and one person came close to! We need to do  _ something _ otherwise pretty soon  _ all _ of us will be dead!” 

There was horror in all their eyes as they stared back at her, quiet. All except one who folded her arms and flipped a strand of hair back under her helmet. “Look,” the girl in the green space suit began with a small huff. “I don’t agree with Sugar Queen over there on a lot of things—and trust me, it is  _ a lot. _ But I don’t think we should try to vote someone off. If we get it wrong, that makes us just as bad as whoever the impostor is, right? We’d just be killing someone needlessly.” 

Suki nodded. “I know there’s still an impostor among us, but I don’t think I could forgive myself if I voted for someone and was wrong about it.” There was a following chorus of agreements. 

“I think we should try my idea about having everyone scan in MedBay,” Sokka added. “We know it’s not me or Suki and Toph has an alibi, so we just have to scan—” 

“Are you trying to say I killed Ty Lee?” Mai snapped at him. He stared at her blankly. 

“Mai,” Zuko mumbled to her, reaching a hand out again. “I don’t think—” 

“You don’t think what? That he wasn’t implying that, Zuko? You don’t think you can stick up for anyone besides your boyfriend,  _ huh? _ ” 

“We’re not dating, you—” Sokka tried to butt in. He cut himself off as Mai glared at him. 

Zuko took a deep breath. “Mai. I know you’re grieving. I am too. We all are. But it’s just a MedBay scan. I have to do one too and I know Sokka wasn’t trying to say that—” 

“But I was with Ty Lee the whole time! We only split up to take care of oxygen!” There was silence for a moment. The longer it dragged on, the more Mai felt like she had missed something. No one was looking at her. What did they know that she didn’t? Her eyes darted between all of them. Toph didn’t make any motion to acknowledge her. She felt like screaming.

Finally, Suki sighed and met Mai’s eyes. “Mai, I loved her too and I  _ know _ that it hurts so much that we couldn’t protect her. But I also know she  _ wouldn’t _ have said anything if it was either of us. She wouldn’t—” 

“Fuck you,” Mai said before she could stop herself, getting up from the table. Zuko was quick to follow her. 

“Mai,” he said, grabbing her wrist. She spun to meet his eyes. Something stopped his words before they left his mouth and he let her go. And she left. 

A few minutes later she found herself sitting in Security, partially spinning herself from side-to-side in the chair. Her friends weren’t wandering the halls, so she knew they were still talking in the cafeteria. She closed her eyes and sighed. If Ty Lee was here, she’d be trying to talk her into going back to them and apologize. She was lashing out because she was hurting and… maybe that wasn’t accurate. Mai recognized that she was lashing out, but she wasn’t hurting. She just felt… numb. Like Ty Lee had taken part of her with her. 

Mai stood, pulling her tablet out. She  _ needed _ to live for Ty Lee. It was what she would have wanted. If Mai could finish the tasks she had inherited once Ty Lee died, then she could dedicate more time to figuring out who killed her. Then they could get to HQ safely and she could really live for Ty Lee. 

Silently, she crossed the hallway. Suki was there already, slouched against the reactor and Mai couldn’t stop herself from jumping slightly. 

“Thought I’d find you here,” Suki began with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m sorry for what we all said during the meeting. Especially what I said. I—I know it was upsetting and we’re both grieving right now and I’m sorry.” 

Mai folded her arms. “How did you convince Katara to let you walk all the way down here?” Suki’s eyes briefly closed in disappointment. 

“She wanted Zuko to come but he just… you know him.” A more genuine smile pulled at Suki’s mouth. “Always the drama queen.” 

Mai chuckled drily. “I don’t exactly blame him,” she said, offering Suki a hand up. Suki smirked. 

* * *

Sokka had to admit it: today sucked ass. One of his best friends had almost died. His other best friend lost his uncle and one of his childhood friends. Katara kept yelling at him. Everyone was on edge. His friends were all scared for their lives. And no one would just  _ listen _ to him. Sure, Zuko and Toph were  _ trying, _ but no one else was so the point was moot. He understood that everyone’s emotions were high but they couldn’t just keep  _ letting _ people die. There were only seven of them left. If they made it to HQ with only four or five of them out of the original ten, what would they think? Sokka’s stomach turned. He didn’t want to think about losing anyone else. It was bad enough that—

An elbow made contact with his ribs. “So,” Toph began, smiling to herself. “You and Sparky, huh?” Zuko’s head whipped towards them from where he and Azula were refueling an engine. Sokka met his eye and felt his face warm at the same time that Zuko flushed. 

“Uh,” Sokka said like a genius. 

“You don’t have to say anything,” Toph said with a small laugh. “Your heartbeats already gave you both away.” Zuko’s eyes quickly dropped back to the task at hand. Sokka unconsciously moved to rub the back of his head despite the helmet, accidentally waking up Momo on his shoulders in the process. Cranky, Momo chirped angrily at the three of them before flying off down the hallway. Toph just laughed. He knew it wasn’t to be mean, but it had been a  _ long _ day and he was a little emotionally exhausted. 

Sokka sighed. “Well, uh, I guess Momo wants me to go check on Suki and Mai.” 

“No he does not,” Toph automatically replied. “There’s a reason we went all the way through the cafeteria to get to the upper engine and it’s because all three of us are afraid of what Mai might do if she sees any of us right now.” 

“Yeah, but it’s just been a while since anyone has seen or heard from either of them. I should make sure they’re okay, ya know?” 

“Just be quiet,” Zuko mumbled. “Mai might actually kill you if she catches you eavesdropping.” 

Sokka waved a hand at him as if to brush the words off. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He glanced back at his two friends. “I know how to be quiet.” Toph snorted. Sokka elected to ignore that and make his way up the hall. 

Momo had disappeared somewhere in the expanses of the metal walls. He wasn’t chittering or landing loudly around the room or chewing on something. It was quiet. Sokka tried to not let himself get weirded out by it. Mai and Suki could just be whispering to each other or they had actually moved to a different room or something. Quiet wasn’t something to get worried about. Knowing that didn’t stop the swell of anxiety that sloshed in his stomach like turbulent waves. It didn’t stop his heartbeat from picking up a little or control his impulse to run the rest of the way to Reactor. 

Knowing that the quiet was nothing to be worried about did nothing to stop there from being a dead body on the floor. 

The black suit wasn’t stained with blood like the other ones had been, but Sokka could still see where it was smeared over the body and soaked into the fabric. Her cracked helmet had rolled off to the side, resting on top of one of the vents. Severed locks of her hair were stuck to the bloody remains of her neck. Mai had been there a while; the pool she was laying in was turning brown. And, for better or for worse, Suki was nowhere to be found. 

Sokka might have felt sick had he stumbled upon this sight any earlier in their journey. But now with no less than four dead bodies under his belt, all he felt was panic. Stumbling backwards, fumbling for a megaphone panic. Almost falling on his face and breaking the glass of his helmet panic. Grasping at the wall, his back turned to the body, Sokka tried to calm himself at least a little before calling the others. And there was the creaking of rusty hinges. Sokka spun towards the noise. The vent slammed shut, concealing beneath it whatever— _ whoever _ —was below. Mai’s broken helmet rolled lazily across the metal floor. 

Thoroughly spooked, Sokka pressed the button down on his megaphone and said, “Everyone to Reactor! There’s another body!” 

* * *

“You know how it looks, Sokka,” Katara grumbled, nose scrunching as she closed her eyes. He felt like this was the fourth time that day they’d had the same conversation. He wanted them to do literally anything in an attempt to figure out the impostor. She didn’t want to upset anyone further or risk losing any more friends. A  _ little  _ counterintuitive in his opinion. 

Sokka folded his arms over his chest. “I am  _ well aware, _ Katara. And trust me, it wouldn’t’ve been  _ my _ choice to find three bodies in a row, but here we are.” 

“But Sokka wasn’t alone before he found the other ones,” Toph defended, sitting up slightly. “He was with me for the entire time since we broke off from the group to when we found Ty Lee together.” 

“And he was with me when we found Iroh,” Suki added. 

“He was only gone for about a minute before he found Mai. He was with both Toph and I for an hour,” Zuko said, arms folded over his chest and eyes red. He wasn’t doing okay. Sokka didn’t have to ask him to know that. Mai had been one of his best friends and the last time they had interacted had been a fight. And there was nothing Sokka could ever do to fix that for him. 

“Okay, so it’s not Sokka and it’s  _ certainly _ not Aang,” Katara concluded, throwing her hands in the air. “We have no other theories on who it could be.” Sokka winced involuntarily and his sister just glared at him. “No,” she started. 

“I didn’t even say anything,” he rebutted. 

“But I know you’re going to try to say it’s Aang still!” 

“It’s just a theory and it holds more water than whatever point you were trying to make!” 

“I—what? You agreed with me on part of it!” 

“Yeah, just that I looked suspicious! Not that I might be the impostor! Why would I—” Toph slammed her hands down on the table, rattling everything on it and everyone. 

“We aren’t being productive like this!” Toph reminded, standing up slightly. “There are only six of us left and we have to find the impostor if we want to be let into HQ.” Sokka would admit that he was a little afraid of her. He had also been afraid of Mai and Ty Lee and was still currently afraid of Suki—injury or not. 

“She’s right,” Zuko muttered, sitting up and unfolding his arms. He met Sokka’s eyes. “You kept mentioning us all doing MedBay scans?” 

“Y-yeah,” Sokka stuttered. He wanted to act like it was because he was startled that someone was listening to him. He knew better. 

“But there are six of us, we can’t just exclude someone,” Suki argued.  _ She normally doesn’t try to go against my plans, _ Sokka noted, forcing himself not to dwell on it. 

“We wouldn’t be excluding anyone,” Sokka answered. “If we get five scans a day and there’s one impostor, we just have to scan five of us and we know who’s the impostor.”

“So whoever is left over you’ll know is the impostor if you all pass your scans,” Aang commented, staring at him.  _ Weird phrasing, _ Sokka thought.  [ _ Suspicious. _ ](https://youtu.be/XWzXq3sbAbk)

“Yeah,” Sokka said, trying to not let his concern leak through his voice. “It should be foolproof.” Aang kept his eyes trained on him. There was an unsettling absence of the normal warmth in his gaze. Impostor or not, there was definitely something wrong with Aang.

* * *

“Fifteen minutes,” Katara said, staring at her tablet plugged into the MedBay scanner. She looked over her shoulder at them. “We have fifteen minutes until we have all five scans again.” 

“Okay,” Sokka said. “Let’s get the first four done and hopefully by the time we get those done the fifth one will be ready.” 

“Alright, who wants to—” The alarms began blaring, cutting Suki off. The reactor. Convenient. Really the timing was immaculate. This couldn’t have come at a better moment. Aang was staring at his feet. It was suspicious but Katara would never want to hear it. 

“Zuko,” Sokka said, motioning his head in the direction of the reactor. Zuko gave him a nod, his eyes still puffy. Sokka smiled at him quickly, turning towards the others to say something. 

“I’m coming too!” Toph interjected, grabbing Sokka by the wrist and dragging him along behind her. Zuko was quick to follow. 

“Aang and Katara, you stay here with Suki!” he shouted over his shoulder. Before the other three could get a word in, the trio took off down the hallway. 

The reactor wasn’t far from MedBay. It was easy to shut off, Zuko taking one of the hand scanners and Sokka taking the other. Toph stood in the middle of the room, back against the reactor and not exactly helping. She was there more for moral support than anything else. And the ship was quiet again. 

“Great job, team!” Toph commented, standing up a bit as Sokka and Zuko approached her. “Should we get back now instead of calibrating the distributor?” 

“We should probably just go back,” Zuko said. 

“Yeah, the ship won’t explode if the distributor is a bit off,” Sokka agreed. “Plus, I  _ just _ convinced everyone to do a quick scan. Can’t mess this up now.” He smiled with it, trying to make it a joke. Toph and Zuko didn’t so much as chuckle. Maybe a day earlier they would have. But so much had changed. Even if they made it out of this alive, Sokka knew things really wouldn’t ever feel the same. 

“You guys ready to find out who’s the impostor?” Sokka tried to ask casually. It wasn’t a casual question. Zuko hummed slightly, not looking over at him. Toph cracked her knuckles. 

“I’m ready to beat the shit out of them,” she answered. Maybe it was supposed to be a joke, but it certainly didn’t leave her mouth that way. The last six hours had changed them. 

Their solemn footsteps echoed against the metal walls. There was distant chatting, the other three sharing a much lighter mood than them. Maybe they didn’t feel as much impending doom—as much anxiety over the shitstorm that was about to go down. Sokka tried to force a smile. “Alright, who’s ready—” 

“Sokka!” 

Zuko’s hands were gripping his arms, pulling him back as the door slammed down in front of them. Sokka came close to having his foot severed, flattened under the thick metal door. He had only caught a glimpse of Katara’s wide eyes near the scanner, Aang’s arm around her waist. It was so fast that it took his brain a second to catch up. 

“Sokka,” Zuko repeated, trying to turn him so they could face each other. “Sokka!” Blinking, Sokka met his eyes. “Are you okay? How didn’t you see the door closing?” 

“I—uh—” he stammered, glancing over at Toph who was banging on the door, screaming profanities. She had a point that this impostor was just delaying the inevitable, but he didn’t exactly blame them for trying to save their own skin. He blinked, looking back at Zuko. “I-I’m fine. I’m okay. Do you think Katara and—” 

“Sokka, you almost got crushed by a door,” Zuko reminded him, sounding angry with fear in his eyes. Sokka put his hands on his shoulders. 

“I know,” he said, nodding. “And I’m okay. Like, I get why you’re concerned, but we have to make sure the other three are safe.” Zuko let go of him. 

“Right,” he mumbled, turning his eyes towards Toph. There was a significant dent in the door now. Suki and Katara yelling something from the other side. 

“Toph,” Sokka semi-shouted with his hands still on Zuko’s shoulders. She didn’t even pause. “Toph, stop for a second!” 

“No!” she shouted back.  _ Fair enough. _ Zuko worked his way out of Sokka’s grip, moving to the other side of the hallway where Toph was still banging uselessly on the door, trying to bend her way through it. 

“Toph,” Zuko said, grabbing her by the shoulder. She smacked his arm away. 

“I’m getting them out of there!” 

“Stop so we can hear what they’re saying!” Sokka added. The door dented further but showed no signs of yielding. Evidently, impenetrable doors were the one thing the engineers got right. Sokka had always thought it was ridiculous that the doors were installed at all given that the crew should never be at risk of being infected or killed by an impostor in the first place—but here they were and the doors were a hindrance rather than a help. 

“Fuck,” Toph grumbled, punching the door one last time. 

“Toph!” Katara yelled somewhere beyond the eight inches of metal. “You won’t be able to bend through the door! Just go to electrical and recalibrate the distributor! I think the door only closed because the power got messed up from the reactor melting down. If you get everything fixed, it should just open!” Look at his sister being reasonable for once. 

Toph’s hands dropped to her sides and she groaned. “Fine. But don’t any of you scan without us! We should all be here for this!” 

* * *

“I’m  _ trying _ to hold you still! You’re not as light as you think you are,” Zuko grumbled as Azula kicked at him again. Why they were letting her fix the distributor, Sokka wasn’t sure. He was sitting, rolling his wrist so the reflection off of his suit moved in a circle for Momo to chase. Toph was curled up on the ground, trying to take a nap. There was a small blast of fire. 

“Azula!” Zuko yelled and suddenly stumbled. His little sister ended up on the floor as if she didn’t just fall—standing with her hands on her hips. “You know you’re not supposed to bend on here! There’s limited oxygen.” In lieu of saying anything, Azula  [ flipped him off.  ](https://www.instagram.com/p/CG3Jq_wl5L-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)

“Careful, Sparky,” Toph muttered, eyes still closed. “She could be the impostor and I’m sure she’d  _ love _ to stab you.” Zuko glared at her for a moment before turning his gaze back to his sister and picking her up. 

“I’ll just do it myself,” he grumbled, wrestling her back into her harness on his chest. They had been there for maybe five minutes. It took Zuko ten seconds to finish. Sokka understood that Zuko was trying to make Azula feel useful, but  _ damn. _ Just  _ damn. _ “There,” Zuko mumbled, turning to look at Sokka on the ground. Somewhere in the distance there was an echo of metal grinding on metal and Sokka smiled at him. 

Toph shot up, quickly jumping to her feet. “Door’s open!” Momo screeched as she nearly kicked him as she took off running. Zuko stretched his hand out to Sokka, helping lift him off the ground. 

“Toph’s really excited about the door being open,” Sokka commented. 

“Yeah,” Zuko responded. He paused, the ship going silent except for their footsteps and the distant rumbling of engines. “I think we’re all just ready to solve this and be done with it.” 

“Sokka!” Katara shouted, jogging towards him from where she had been standing in the cafeteria. “Are you okay? It looked like the door was going to hit you!” 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he chuckled. It was a feeble attempt to calm her, to make it seem like a lesser deal than it was. Katara frowned at him. 

“I was worried about you,” she grumbled. 

“I know, but there are more important things to be worried about right now.” Her frown deepened and he elected to ignore it. Making eye contact with Aang and Suki, he shouted, “Who wants to scan first?” 

“I’ll do it,” Suki offered, standing up from the table she was sitting at. It was easy to forget that she had a gaping hole going through her stomach less than a few hours ago. 

“And I can go after her,” Aang said with a small smile. The two exchanged a quick look and Sokka felt like he was missing something. Nonetheless, it wasn’t obvious enough that he could bring it up without Katara yelling at him. 

“I don’t care when I go as long as we figure this shit out,” Toph grumbled, standing in the doorway to the hall. Sokka was a little tempted to tell her to step out of it in case that door also randomly slammed shut. He didn’t get the chance to. 

There was bang—metal violently hitting metal—startling the group. Katara’s eyes widened and Zuko whispered a barely audible, “No.” Sokka felt his stomach drop a little, like he was falling. He might as well have been. Another glance was shared between Aang and Suki.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Toph yelled. “The door to MedBay fucking closed again!” 

“The latches to unlock it are all on the inside of the door,” Katara said. “I had tried to undo all of them to get the door open the first time, but they wouldn’t budge.” Sokka took a deep breath and closed his eyes. If it weren’t for his helmet, he would have run his hand over his face or pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was this so difficult? 

“Okay,” he said finally. “Maybe we need to split up into pairs. Katara, how about you and Toph try to see if you can expand the vent leading from electrical to MedBay enough for you two to get in there and see if you can get it open from the inside. The rest of us will check the wiring in the ship and see if that’s the problem. Aang and Suki, you take the top of the ship. Zuko and I will take the bottom. We  _ have _ to figure this out.” 

It was rare for all of them to just agree to one of his plans. But maybe they were all just as scared as he was. It didn’t take long to figure out that the impostor was biding their time, prolonging their discovery as long as possible. Probably they had something planned and someone would be dead soon. Anger twisted in Sokka’s guts as he opened another wiring panel. Nothing was wrong with this one either. 

“This is ridiculous,” Zuko grumbled. 

“You’re telling me,” Sokka mumbled back, screwing the plate back into place. Zuko uncrossed his arms. He would also prefer if this was easier. 

“I get that the impostor doesn’t want to be caught, but we were so close! It’s only a matter of time. Why keep delaying the inevitable!” Azula stared up at Zuko as if she was ready to commit fratricide. Sokka put a hand on Zuko’s shoulder. 

“That’s rough, buddy,” Sokka said with a grin. Zuko rolled his eyes looking like he was about to spew out some other tangent or probably punch Sokka. Taking his chances, Sokka turned fully to look at him. “Hey, it’ll be okay, dude. We’ll make it out of this together… I promise.” 

* * *

Maybe leaving Zuko for two minutes to use the bathroom was a bad idea. Well… “maybe” wasn’t exactly right. It  _ was _ a bad idea to use the bathroom alone. But Sokka thought he could get himself out of this situation. There had to be some explanation for why this was happening and once he found it, this would be solved. 

He had panicked with everyone else when Suki screamed. He was sure that someone else was dead and the situation would be more dire. Zuko quickly found him and they ran together to find Suki yelling, “I saw Sokka in  [ the vent! ](https://sawah-draws.tumblr.com/post/631343335672545281/an-atla-and-among-us-crossover-bc-i-love-indulging) I swear! Aang saw him too!” It was honestly not what Sokka was anticipating. Today was just full of surprises. 

So there they were, standing in the hallway, yelling at each other. 

“Guys, it isn’t me!” Sokka insisted for the nth time. His words kept falling on deaf ears and he wasn’t sure why he kept trying. Well, other than he didn’t want them to shove him out of the airlock.

“Again, he’s not  [ lying, ](https://www.instagram.com/p/CFrlfBhFH8z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) ” Toph added. 

“I saw Sokka open the vent and look at me! He realized that I saw him and he went back in. I promise you guys! It’s Sokka!” Suki repeated. 

“She also isn’t lying,” Toph sighed, arms folded and leaning against the wall. It had been a lot of Sokka against Aang and Suki, a turn of events he hadn’t seen coming.  _ A lot _ of today he hadn’t seen coming, honestly. 

“I don’t think it’s Sokka,” Zuko said finally. He had sat down a while ago, pulling his knees into his chest. Azula was attempting to terrorize Momo next to him, but the lemur would only let her get so close. “He’s had plenty of opportunities to kill me and I think he would have already if it was him.” 

“I agree,” Toph said. “Sokka hasn’t been alone long enough to be the one who killed anyone.” 

“But we both saw him in the vent,” Aang added. Katara was hugging herself, looking like she was near tears. Sokka wished he could comfort her. 

“I have to take Suki and Aang’s side with this,” she started quietly, shaking her head slightly. “I—” she let out a shaking breath, her voice much louder. “I don’t want it to be Sokka, but Aang has been with me basically the whole time and Suki almost  _ died. _ And if Toph says they’re not lying… I have to believe them.” 

“Katara,” Sokka said, his voice coming out much weaker than anticipated. She broke. 

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. Aang put a gentle arm around her shoulders. Dread was filling Sokka’s organs. There was a hand gripping Sokka’s arm. 

“Hold on,” Zuko interrupted, stepping in front of him. “Toph and I both agree that we don’t think it’s Sokka. We can’t just eject him because three of you think it might be him.” 

Suki folded her arms. “Zuko, I know you’ve lost a lot of people you care about today, but we saw Sokka—” 

“—in the vent, I know!” Zuko was shaking a little. “You keep saying that but Sokka never left while we were fixing wires. He couldn’t have been in the vents!” 

Silence. There was mild panic in Suki’s eyes. Aang glanced over at her, Katara hiccuping as she tried to choke down her tears. Toph’s head was turned towards Zuko. 

“He’s lying…” 

“Zuko,” Katara began. “You can’t protect—”

“So it is him!” Suki yelled. 

“—after everything. After he killed your uncle!” 

Sokka could hear his heart drumming in his ears. He was going to die. 

* * *

Before today, Zuko could count on one hand how many people he knew who had died. Today alone, a whole handful had been added. 

“It’s not me!” Sokka yelled, tears rolling down his cheeks. This was wrong. Zuko knew it was wrong. He  _ knew _ it wasn’t Sokka. There was just no way to convince the rest of them. 

“We can still try to get into MedBay. I swear it isn’t me!” Toph was holding him in the air, bending the metal in his space suit. Every once in a while, Sokka would kick a leg out or grab a wall in an attempt to keep them from getting any closer to the airlock in Comms. Zuko couldn’t blame him for still trying to fight his way through this. He’d be doing the same in his situation. 

If only he hadn’t lied about Sokka and him briefly splitting up or if only he could have lied better or if Toph hadn’t been paying attention… then they wouldn’t be here. They wouldn’t be walking one of their best friends to his death. He wouldn’t have to watch his kind-of-boyfriend drift into the expanse of space, slowly freezing and  [ suffocating. ](https://www.cnet.com/news/what-happens-to-the-unprotected-human-body-in-space/) No part of him wanted to see it, but he didn’t want Sokka to feel completely alone throughout this. No one deserved that, especially not Sokka. 

“Guys… please.” It was desperate and pained and mournful. And Zuko finally cried, silent tears sliding down his cheeks. Katara was crying again somewhere behind him. This wasn’t any easier for her even though she agreed to it. A twinge of anger shot through him. They didn’t  _ have _ to be doing this. This didn’t  _ have _ to happen. Zuko didn’t  _ have _ to lose a  _ fourth _ person today. 

The airlock doors grinded open, rusting gears scraping against each other from lack of use. Sokka’s eyes widened, fear stricken. He hooked his foot under the leg of one of the tables, trying to stop himself from moving forward but only managing to spin himself towards the rest of the group. 

“Sokka,” Katara began, voice quivering. She didn’t say anything else. Suki put a gentle hand on her shoulder, giving her a supportive look before turning to Sokka. 

“Sokka, please, stop this. You’re just making it harder on everyone,” Suki begged, her tone not matching the look in her eyes. This was wrong and Zuko knew it and he wasn’t doing anything about it. What could he do about it? 

“I—” Sokka’s voice cracked. Toph froze, not pushing him any closer to the already opened chamber leading to the outside. “I know and I’m sorry, okay? I just want you guys to  _ listen _ to me for one—” 

“You’re not going to convince to—”

“I know,” Sokka interrupted. “I’m well aware that I can’t convince you guys of anything and it’s not about that. I just— _ please… _ just listen to me.” Zuko’s eyes locked with his and briefly Sokka tried to smile at him, like it was going to be okay and they would still make it out of this together like he had promised. Suki, Aang, and Katara exchanged a quick look before nodding at Sokka. 

“Put him down, Toph,” Katara said. 

“You sure about that?” she asked, keeping Sokka suspended still in the air. 

“Yes,” she sighed, her eyes hardening slightly. “We have him cornered so if he tries anything we can just shove him into the airlock and that’ll be it.” It was a threat. Sokka swallowed hard as he was lowered to the carpeted floor. 

He let out an unsteady breath, fists clenched at his sides. “Promise me you’ll do anything it takes to find the impostor and eject them.” The words were bitter. 

“Sokka, don’t try to—” Katara began. 

“Don’t,” Sokka snapped, closing his eyes. “Please… just promise me.” He looked up at them and there was silence. He was shaking. “Promise me that you’ll actually  _ try _ to find the impostor, that you’ll actually  _ try _ to keep yourselves alive.” Zuko crossed his arms over his chest; he’d left Azula in the cafeteria with Momo. She didn’t need to see this. Sokka met his eyes. “Please.” 

Zuko nodded. “I promise,” he whispered back, though he wasn’t sure the words really left his mouth. It seemed like it was enough for Sokka, who nodded quietly. 

A smile broke across his face, pained with a tear catching the corner of it. He laughed drily looking at all of them again. “Good luck, guys.” And he stepped backwards into the airlock. 

“Sokka, wait—” The door slammed shut cutting Katara off. Whatever she had wanted to say she would now have to keep to herself. There was the distant sound of the other side of the airlock opening. And Zuko panicked. Sokka was alone outside the ship and he  _ specifically _ didn’t want that to happen. He had come along specifically so that  _ wouldn’t _ happen. And before he knew what he was doing, he was running towards storage. 

“Zuko!” someone shouted somewhere behind him. His brain didn’t process his own name, solely focused on getting to the windows in storage. Uncle and Ty Lee and Mai all died alone, Sokka wouldn’t. That was all Zuko could do. 

Sokka was just starting to float by the windows when Zuko made it there, his blue suit covered in a thin layer of frost. Whether he was still shaking or now shivering from the cold, Zuko wasn’t sure. All he knew is that Sokka’s eyes widened when he saw him. And Sokka shook his head. “Leave,” Sokka mouthed to him. Zuko shook his head. Sokka pointed to something behind Zuko. “Go,” Sokka seemed to say. Again, Zuko shook his head, pressing his hands up against the window. A tear slipped out of Sokka’s eyes.

“I love you,” Zuko said to him, knowing he couldn’t hear him. Sokka looked like he let out a laugh, a smile flashing across his face. His hands came up and started fiddling with the straps that kept his helmet attached. Zuko’s heart sank. 

“I love you too,” Sokka said. And then he exhaled and took his helmet off. Zuko wanted to scream. Instead he hit the glass with the palm of his hand. Sokka smiled at him gently, giving him a small wave goodbye. Zuko watched as Sokka’s face began to swell, beginning to match the color of his suit. His eyes slowly fluttered shut. It would take a few minutes for Sokka to truly suffocate, but he wouldn’t remember it. Sokka fell asleep and floated off into space, leaving Zuko a crumpled mess on the floor of the spaceship. 

* * *

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever fucking heard, dude,” Sokka had said with a laugh. Zuko had rolled his eyes. 

“It’s not like you’re doing much better,” he had grumbled back. Sokka had hummed. 

“I bet you I am the smartest person here,” he had said, leaning in. Had they not had helmets on, Zuko would have kissed him. Instead he had held out his hand and Sokka had handed him the sticky notes and the marker. “You gonna draw me something?” Sokka had asked with a cocky grin. 

“Something like that… no peeking!” Zuko had replied. Sokka had chuckled at him, closing his eyes. Quickly, Zuko wrote one word on the paper. “Open your eyes,” Zuko had whispered to him. Sokka had opened his eyes and mouth, ready to make some comment and Zuko had slapped the sticky note onto his helmet harder than intended. 

Stunned, Sokka had froze for a moment before laughing, a real, side-splitting, infectious laugh. “You didn’t even spell it right!” he had gotten out. “Dumb has a  [ ‘b’ ](https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.1700533388.9713/st,small,507x507-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg) at the end!”

Zuko had chuckled. “You’re dumb enough that you don’t deserve the ‘b.’” 

“Rude!” Sokka had shot back with a shove. “You don’t have to be this mean to—” 

“Zuko,” Katara muttered. She sounded worried. He didn’t look at her, his eyes trained on the spot on the floor in front of him. They had moved him to the cafeteria. Azula was asleep against his chest. His feet were stretched out in front of him with the edge of the table pressing into his back. A few days prior Sokka and him had sat almost exactly here in a similar position. 

“You should come with Aang and I,” Katara was saying to him here, in the present, where Sokka was drifting out in space dead. “Walking around might take your mind off it.” 

Zuko ignored her, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. It wouldn’t be fair to her and snap and say it was partially her fault he was dead in the first place. No matter her involvement, she had lost her brother after losing both her mom and later her dad. She was alone. He at least still had Azula. The bench bent a little under the weight of her sitting down next to him. 

“I miss him too,” she said quietly. He opened his eyes and looked at her. “I wish there could have been a way for him to stay with us, but… I—honestly, I  _ do _ think he was the impostor and there was no avoiding this.” She met his eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We did the right thing even if it doesn’t feel like it and—and we have to remember that  _ that _ wasn’t Sokka, not really. He was infected and he—he  _ killed _ all those people, Zuko.” It was supposed to be comforting, but it honestly sounded like she was still trying to convince herself. “I know it’s hard to accept, but…” 

Zuko just sighed and stood up. “I’m not talking to you about this. But I’ll go for a walk with you and Aang if it makes you happy.”

“Zuko, Sokka wouldn’t want you bottling your—” 

“Don’t,” Zuko spat out, fist clenched and shaking. “Don’t tell me how to grieve, Katara.” She just blinked at him wide-eyed. “I lost my three closest friends  _ and _ my uncle all within eight hours of each other. So don’t tell me how I am supposed to be handling this right now.” A series of emotions flashed over her face—flabbergast then anger then something close to sadness and finally acceptance. 

Nodding, she just whispered, “Okay, I’m sorry.” Zuko just gave her a hum of acknowledgement, readjusting Azula in his arms. And they were quiet as they walked to join Aang who was scrolling mindlessly through his tablet. He smiled as they approached and Zuko wanted nothing more than to deck him for the sheer  _ audacity _ to smile. 

Everyone grieves differently. 

Aang rambled on endlessly about something Momo had done the other day and what he thought HQ was going to be like. Zuko was largely ignoring him. All he could think about were memories attached to different parts of the ship. Uncle showing him how to make tea in space. Mai and Ty Lee cornering him in various parts of the ship, demanding that he help them settle some argument. Sokka sticking with him to do tasks, rattling off bad jokes and winking at him. It was impossible to believe that Sokka had been the impostor, that he had been the one to take all four of them from Zuko’s life. 

“What are you going to do first when we get to HQ, Zuko?” Aang asked innocuously, elbowing Zuko gently in the ribs. 

“I don’t want to talk to you about that,” he grumbled back. 

“Oh, c’mon! You have to have  _ something _ planned,” Aang insisted. Zuko turned sharply towards him, stopping in his tracks. 

“Yeah, Aang, I did have something fucking planned but the four people I had planned with are all dead so—” 

“Now,” Aang interrupted with an unnaturally wide grin. It was too toothy and looked like it didn’t belong on his face. The rest of Zuko’s words died in his throat. “There’s no need for a tone like that.” He punctuated it by taking his helmet off. Zuko’s heart raced with realization but he felt frozen in place.

“Aang?” Katara asked in horror. Before her or Zuko could do anything about it, a  [ black tongue ](https://www.instagram.com/p/CFpGWdJlzWA/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet) erupted from Aang’s mouth, piercing Zuko through his center. Instinctively, Zuko grabbed at it, trying to pull it out of him but it seemed to only sink deeper into his organs. Azula fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

“Aw,” Aang crooned somewhere from his open mouth with inhuman teeth. “I’m sorry you have to see this, sweetie.” Zuko watched Katara scoop Azula up in a panic and disappear down the corridor. And the last thing he saw was Aang’s tongue shoot back into his mouth and his jaw unhinged like a serpent. 

Zuko would find himself moments later on the floor, breathing heavily and startled. Aang would still be standing above him, chewing on something that crunched like glass and bone in his mouth. Blood would be smeared down the front of his orange space suit. At Aang’s feet, there would lay a headless, red body that Zuko would eventually recognize as his own. A sense of surrealness would pass through Zuko as if this would all just be a bad dream. He would close his eyes and try to steady his breath but when he opened them again nothing would change. Shaking, he would look down at himself, legless and transparent. A new wave of panic would wash over him.  _ What’s happening to me? _ he would think, trying to quell it 

“Now, what did I tell you about Aang?” a familiar voice would say behind him. 

“Sokka?” he would shout, almost feeling relief and leaping to where his feet were supposed to be. 

Sokka would smile sadly. Even dead, he would be helmetless, the rest of his blue space suit still intact. “Hey, buddy,” he would say, opening his arms. Zuko would gladly accept the hug, choking back tears as he would put his head on his shoulder. 

“How are you still here?” Zuko would ask. Sokka would ignore the question and just squeeze him tighter. They both would already know the answer. 

“I thought you promised to keep yourself safe.” It would partially be a joke, partially serious. Zuko would hum slightly and lift his head to look at Sokka. 

“I thought you promised we’d both make it out of this.” Sokka would laugh humorlessly and look down at the floor. 

“I mean, in a way… we sort of did.” There would be a smile pulled across his face and Zuko would roll his eyes. Before he could respond to the statement, they would be interrupted. 

“Zuko?” Zuko would turn his gaze from Sokka’s and meet a familiar pair of eyes. Completely despite himself, he would release a few tears with a small smile.

“Uncle!” 

* * *

Toph felt her  _ long _ before she heard her. The pounding of footsteps coming down the hall towards where her and Suki had been eating in silence. Gently, Toph sat her food down and stood up, pulling her helmet back on. 

“Toph…?” Suki asked from Toph’s right, sounding like she was still seated. Katara was alone, Aang and Zuko still somewhere else in the ship. That fact alone told Toph that something was wrong. Katara and Aang were inseparable and for her to be without him… and she was running, feet landing loudly on the metal floor. 

“Something’s wrong,” she muttered in response, turning towards where she could feel and hear Katara coming. There was shuffling behind her as Suki stood and walked over next to her. It was quiet except for the engines running in the distance and Katara sprinting down the hall. 

“Toph! Suki!” she yelled, evidently being able to see the two of them finally. 

“Where’re Aang and Zuko?” Toph asked, folding her arms. Katara slowed a little, breathing heavily. Even through her boots, Toph could feel how hard her heart was pounding… she was  _ terrified. _ The question was only “Of what?” 

“He—I—” Katara’s voice shook, eventually breaking. Toph’s hands dropped to her sides. “Zuko’s dead,” she said finally. “Aang killed him right in front of me.” There was no time for Suki and Toph to process what that meant before Toph felt someone else coming down the hall. 

“Sweetie, where did you go?” Aang almost sang, the sound reverberating off the walls. Toph felt Suki take a step backwards as Katara ran to her side. 

“We need to go,” she whispered in a panic, a hand pulling at Toph’s arm. 

“Are you sure it’s Aang?” Suki asked to Toph’s left. Something churned in her gut as the footsteps got closer. Even at a distance, Toph could feel that he was walking differently, his footsteps heavy and echoing; they were a stark contrast to his normal light and near silent steps. 

“Yes!” Katara whisper-yelled. “Why would I be lying about this right now? We  _ need _ to go!” 

“She’s not lying,” Toph said to Suki. She couldn’t actually feel whether or not she was lying or not, she just had enough context to know she wasn’t. Suki’s suspicion at this moment was an aberration. The realization of that and the fact that both Suki and Aang had been the ones to suggest that Sokka was—

“Toph!” Katara said at a normal volume as if she was trying not to scream. Her grip tightened on Toph’s right arm. “We need to go! We can’t—” 

“There you are!” Aang crooned behind them. A shiver worked down Toph’s spine as Katara pulled her forward so quickly she almost fell. 

“Run!” someone yelled. The panic in their voice made it unclear if it came from Katara or Suki or even Toph herself. All she knew is that she was trying her best to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not fall as Katara yanked her around corners. 

As the hissing rattle of the reactor got louder, Toph found her voice again. “Where are we going?!” 

“I don’t know,” Katara admitted, still sprinting. 

“We need to eject Aang,” Suki stated, somewhere just behind Toph. 

“How are we supposed to do that?” Toph asked. The rumbling of an engine was taking over, making their conversation barely audible. 

“We throw him out the airlock!” Suki said as if it were obvious. 

“I know that!” Toph snapped. “But he’s currently chasing us and won’t exactly go as willingly as Sokka did!” Katara squeezed her arm briefly. 

“Oh, Sokka…” she whispered. “What would you have us do?” 

* * *

The part of the ship near Communications was quiet. It always had been. But now that there weren't the distant mumblings of conversation and footsteps echoing off the metal walls and floor, it was eerie. It was empty. 

“Katara!” Toph yelled, the sound reverberating. “Suki! Where are you guys?” There was an ephemeral silence, broken silently by a groaning in the metal vent behind her. She smiled slightly, keeping her back to it. “You know I can’t find you guys with these boots on!” 

A creak. Then several thuds. Someone was behind her. She smirked.

Toph spun, quickly finding Aang, the metal in his suit. Her fingers flexed instinctively with a quick motion of her arms. Aang slammed into the wall, the sound echoing down the hall and glass shattering audibly. She tossed him upwards. He hit the ceiling before falling loudly on to the floor. He groaned. She lifted him again. 

“Toph,” he said weakly. “That wasn’t nice.” 

“Killing my friends wasn’t very nice either, Twinkle Toes,” she commented, carrying him towards the airlock in the back corner of Comms. The sound of her footsteps disappeared as she stepped onto the carpet. Like a bell, Aang’s helmet rang as she accidentally hit it against the door frame.

“Nice work,” Katara said, audibly conflicted. 

“Yeah, you got that done faster than I thought you would,” Suki agreed, sounding normal. Something was definitely up with her and Toph would figure that out later. For now, she would just shove who she thought was one of her best friends out into space. 

“Wait,” Katara said. “I—Aang, I just need to know why.” 

“Why what?” Aang said cockily. Toph shuttered. 

“Why didn’t you kill me?” 

“You were a good alibi.” Katara’s heart rate spiked. Anger. 

“And my brother? Why did you lie about him? Both of you! Why did you lie about Sokka?!” Katara was shaking. Toph could feel it, even through the carpet. 

“Katara, I thought I had seen him. I’m sorry I—” 

“He wasn’t the impostor, Katara,” Aang cut it, laughing drily. He didn’t even sound like himself. If Toph didn’t know better, she would have thought she had a completely different person suspended in the air. “You killed your own brother.” Toph could feel Katara inhale and hold her breath. 

“How did you manage to kill everyone?” Aang laughed. “Aang! We were always together! How did you do it?” The laughter only continued, filling the air. Toph couldn’t take it. Quickly, she slammed him into the open airlock and he was breathless for a moment. It was momentarily silent.

“You always turned your back on me, Katara,” he answered in almost a whisper. “There were so many times you were  _ so _ focused on your tasks that you didn’t even hear me slip through the vents.” The door slammed shut. Katara had shut it with a sound of stifled anger. 

“Toph, open the outer door!” she demanded. Toph happily obliged. 

And that was it. Aang was lost to the vacuum of space, floating among the stars. And it was truly quiet.

* * *

Katara was silently stabilizing the steering for Toph on a tablet that had no functionality for a blind earthbender. She wanted something to take her mind off the last nine hours of their life and Toph’s tasks weren’t done. Suki was taking a nap with Azula and Momo. They were nineteen hours away now. So close, but still much too far away. After everything that had happened, it was difficult to just exist in the same space as where they had lost so many people. 

“Did we ever take care of Zuko’s body?” Toph asked. Katara froze. 

“No… he’s still laying outside of O2. In the chaos of everything, I just sort of… forgot about him… as bad as that sounds.” Toph grunted in response. Quiet. No distant footsteps or conversations. No smell of dinner cooking or tea brewing. Just a big metal ship that was far too large for its three remaining inhabi—

Something was in the vents, blocking her sense of the expansive web running through the ship. She stumbled. 

“Toph?” Katara began. 

“There’s something moving in the vents,” she responded, reaching out for Katara’s arm but not finding it. 

“I’m sure it’s  [ just Momo ](https://www.tiktok.com/@cheyenneadams21/video/6902469337899076869?lang=en&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6851733207545841158&is_from_webapp=1) or—” 

“It’s too big!” Without much thought, Toph quickly bent the surrounding metal over the top of the vent in time for something to thump loudly into it. Something large was in there. Far too large to be Momo. 

“What the—” 

“We need to go!” Toph shouted, moving towards the door. The thing was shifting, heading towards the second vent. She blocked that one as well and was rewarded with another thunk against the metal. Katara grabbed her arm and quickly led her out into the hall. 

“This doesn’t make any sense!” she started, pausing as they rounded the corner towards Shields. “We got Aang! That should have been it! Suki, you, and I are the only ones left and it can’t be Suki! She was almost killed so there’s no way she could be—” 

“That’s where you’re wrong,” a casual voice said, echoing through the hallway from the floor. Before Toph could do anything, the vent slammed open. “That relies on me not getting infected, which… surprise!” Katara’s heart skipped a beat before hammering through her body. It was enough to make Toph feel legitimately nervous. 

“Fuck,” Katara whispered before gripping Toph tightly and taking off again. 

They only made it so far before Toph skidded to a halt, pulling Katara back. The door separating the hall from Storage flew down from the ceiling with a bang. Katara released a shaking breath. 

“We have to turn around and hope she isn’t—” 

“There you are!” Suki said joyfully. There was no metal on or in her suit. There was nothing Toph could do. Water gushed somewhere to Toph’s left and Suki screamed as her helmetless skull hit the wall with a crack. Toph was being pulled down the hall again. 

“We need to find a room without a vent that has a door and lock ourselves in there,” Katara said to her in a rush. “That’s the only way we’re going to make it through this.” 

“What happened to Suki?” Toph asked, panicked more than anything else. 

“That’s not important right now!” Toph’s foot caught something and then slid through something slick, tripping her briefly. She let out a brief shout but Katara continued pulling her along. “We need to get somewhere safe!” 

The door to the cafeteria slammed shut. They skidded to a stop. 

“No… no, no, no, no,” Katara muttered. “This can’t—” 

“You can’t run from me forever,” Suki called somewhere down the hallway. Katara made a sound that was somewhere between a cry and groan and Toph could feel her shake. They were trapped. And that was unacceptable. 

Slamming her foot into the corner of the door, Toph felt the metal dent. The clang reverberated off the walls and Suki could probably hear it from wherever she was. Toph guessed it didn’t matter. Suki probably already knew where they were and there was nowhere to hide anyway. So Toph kicked the door in the same spot again and again, it slowly dented further and further out. 

“I can see the cafeteria! Toph, keep at it!” Katara encouraged. 

“That was already the plan,” Toph grunted, pushing the metal back further and further until she could get her hands under it and push. From there, she was able to wiggle her way under and pull it up only slightly farther for Katara. 

“Oh no.” 

“What?!” Toph demanded.

“Toph, the other two doors are closed! You have to close the hole you made in this and then—” 

“Surprise,” Suki said from the ground behind Toph. “Did you two miss me?” She was so focused on getting herself and Katara through the door that she forgot about the vents. Toph and Katara were trapped in the cafeteria with the last remaining impostor. 

Water sloshed and there was a mild thump and then Suki laughed. “You’re almost out of water, Katara. You can freeze me again now and have nothing later or try to keep me back as long as possible.” 

“Try me,” Katara growled from Toph’s right. 

“Gladly.” Suki seemed to smile the words out. 

Without hesitation, Toph ripped one of the metal panels that made up the walls down and slammed it over Suki’s head,  [ encasing her. ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7280d8b2e8e81ef797c28ed0d335d1fa/tumblr_naq4i6lBpY1t9w8rwo1_400.gif) Katara tensed. Toph grabbed her, running towards the door that would lead to MedBay. 

Suki would struggle and claw at the metal around her head as Toph made another hole in the door. Toph would try her best to ignore the muffled screaming, focusing on bending the metal and escaping. Before she could get it large enough to crawl through, she would feel Suki’s heartbeat would grow fainter and fainter until it stopped and she would lay slumped on the cafeteria floor. 

“Toph, what’s wrong?!” Katara would question. “We need to go!” 

“She’s dead,” Toph would say quietly. Katara would step back slightly, turning to face the body. 

There would be a few moments where neither would know what to do. Then the doors would gently creak open, two getting stuck where Toph had bent them and groaning against the metal frames. The gears would eventually lock. Quiet. 

“Is it bad to feel relieved?” Katara would ask in a whisper. 

“I don’t know,” Toph would say with a shake of her head. “But I do too.” 

There would be a pause. 

“We should dispose of the bodies,” Katara would suggest. Toph would nod. They would carry Zuko and Suki to the trash chutes and release them to the universe. That would be it. They would be the only two to make it to HQ out of the ten that had started the trip. 

And the ship would be silent once more. 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm so sorry for anything i just put you through  
> feel free to yell at me on [tumblr](https://planteria.tumblr.com/) or in the comments


End file.
